Command Authority, page 2
part #5 of Last Hunter Series
“All good points,” Jack conceded. “Lisa, I’ll let you and Regex see what you can manage. Have you been helping David and Tina Chen in their work?”
“As much as I could,” she said. “Now that we’ve gotten ready to start doing things, I should probably check to make sure they don’t need anything else from me. I’ve been focused on working with Regex to crack into the Tardan military computer, and that’s still my main focus. We’ve also got the Novarite warship’s computer, but I need a better understanding of how the hardware works before I try that.”
Jack nodded. “It sounds like you’ve got your priorities right, but multitask if you can. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am to be on the move again. We’ve got a lot of things to accomplish and very little time to get them done. Let’s get about this, shall we?”
2
David Chen watched the video feed from the cells housing the Novarite prisoners. Considering the number of aliens they’d encountered, surprisingly few were in custody. Only seventeen of the aliens remained alive, and even after a month, some still showed signs of injury.
Fifteen of them had been armed combatants that had boarded Hunter and survived being shot when they’d failed to surrender. Two had been rescued from the crippled Novarite ship. Others had survived the battle but died when they’d refused to give up, even as their oxygen ran out.
“Do you think we’ll ever be able to talk to them?” Tina asked from where she sat beside him. “We haven’t exactly had good luck dealing with them thus far, and I’m not sure that’s going to change.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more xenophobic lot,” he agreed. “Just seeing someone of another species seems to enrage them. Not a recipe for good bilateral relations if we ever encounter them again.”
“Aren’t you just a ray of sunshine?” his wife said with a grin. “I’m not so sure that’s going to happen during our lifetime. After all, they sent those ships to kill the Tardans that escaped their control. They weren’t expecting to find another nation of aliens. I think the odds of running into more of them—other than the ship that got away—are fairly low.”
He turned to face her and shook his head. “We can’t count on what the odds say. This is one of those situations where we have to assume the worst. We need information from these people about what’s coming next. If, of course, they know. It seems their society has a hierarchy of castes, and I doubt any of the people sent on the boarding action know about other aspects of their mission. I suppose those we captured on the ship might be officers, but there’s no way of knowing for sure.”
“And that’s where you’re wrong,” his wife said. “We can see how the prisoners interact with one another, and those from the boarding action don’t defer to the two we rescued from the ship, so they’re not officers.”
Honestly, that pretty well matched his assessment. They’d tried everything in their power to get worthwhile individuals to question but failed. These people would rather die than be captured. Even now, if they had an opportunity to attack, they’d take it.
He frowned and double-checked the records of all the encounters. While the Novarites had attacked the Marine guards that entered the holding area, were the crewmembers from the destroyed ship as violent as the boarders? He didn’t know, but there was a way to find out.
David activated his comm and called Lieutenant Colonel Mac Turner. The grizzled warrior answered almost immediately. “Turner.”
“Mac, this is David Chen. I’m reviewing my records of the interactions with the Novarites and wonder if the crewmembers have reacted violently toward your Marines. I know the rest have, but that may be an aspect of their training. If we’re ever going to get answers from these people, we need to at least be able to talk to them, and I’m uncertain those who survived the boarding action will ever cooperate. That leaves the two we rescued from the ship, and I need a read on what you think.”
The other man was silent for a few seconds. “I can’t say that I remember being told one way or the other. Honestly, when the entire compartment seems to be swarming you, it focuses your attention on the ones coming at you rather than the ones that might be hanging back. Everything is recorded, though. All you have to do is look back to the last few encounters, which should give you an idea. With as violent as they’ve been, do you think they’ll cooperate even if they aren’t attacking our people?”
“If we go into this assuming we’ll never have success, that’s going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need to find the weak spots and keep pushing. Surely they’re not all violent monsters.”
“From what I understand, the Tardans seem to disagree with that assessment.”
David chuckled. “They might be a little biased, and with good reason. The best we can do is shake the tree and see what falls out. Thanks for the information.”
Once he’d disconnected the call, David brought the various encounters up on his console and watched them play out. Just the presence of the Marines started a brawl. That was one of the reasons they’d kept the prisoners separated into smaller groups: two with six people and one with five.
Two crewmembers were part of the larger groups, having been split so that one was in each of the six-person assemblages. The Marines had minimized their intrusions, so there weren’t that many encounters to look over. One of the crew people participated in the violence, whereas the other held back in the encounters they had recorded.
He wasn’t sure how to interpret that, though. Was it because the one didn’t want to attack, or did the circumstances not favor his participation? David stood and walked over to the console being used by the Marine overseeing the prisoners. The woman looked up and quirked an eyebrow at him.
“I want to extract one of the Novarite prisoners,” he said. “Number seven.”
She checked her console and called for backup. They’d had to do this process several times because the doctors wanted to examine the injured, which always seemed to mean a fight to get to them. They’d worked out a process by which the Marines went in fast with net guns to immobilize the prisoners, which seemed to work well enough.
“Where are you going to put him?” his wife asked. “We’ll need a separate housing facility if we want to keep him isolated long term.”
“If there’s one thing we don’t lack, it’s space. I’m sure the Marines can come up with a room we can use as an individual cell. The difficulty isn’t going to be keeping him isolated from the others, though that will be problematic over the long term. It’s getting him to cooperate at all. We can utilize the translation program to attempt to communicate, but thus far, no one has seemed willing to respond.”
The two of them returned to their console and watched the Marines as they went into the cell and dealt with its occupants when they erupted from their resting places. Once again, the crewman held back, even though he made as if to attack. It wasn’t that the male was hesitant, but he seemed to always place himself in a poor position to make an assault on the Marines. In fact, he dodged right into an area that got him netted pretty quickly this time.
Even though the subject thrashed around and snarled, David suspected that might be for show. If so, that was interesting. Why would this prisoner behave differently than the others?
It took about five minutes for the Marines to sort the prisoners out and extract the one he was interested in. They used short-acting tranquilizers on the ones they were leaving so they could safely retrieve the nets before withdrawing. They then hustled the alien into a new room and mostly cut him free before removing the last of the netting and retreating from the compartment.
The Novarite in question was short compared to his brethren. That didn’t make him small by any means, but coming in at two and a half meters was smaller than the rest of the prisoners, male or female.
The alien in question had the same almost doglike muzzle that the rest of his kind had, though it seemed a bit blunter and narrower. The fur that covered it was light gray with striations of black mixed in. He stalked around the compartment, snarling.
“Now that you’ve got him, what next?” his wife asked. “The Marines won’t let you go in with him, and neither will I. How do we proceed?”
“The same way we did every other time. We’ll use the comm built into the bulkhead to attempt to talk via the translation program. It’s not as good as being there in person, but it’s as good as it’s going to get.”
David waited until the prisoner was near the comm unit before he spoke. “We want to talk. Are you willing to speak with us?”
The other end spat out a translation in the Tardan tongue. Lisa and Regex said that it was moderately accurate and would do for basic conversation. If it ran across any words or phrases it didn’t understand, it would make a note of them and flag the deviations for further review. They even had linguists from New Copenhagen studying the language so they might someday be able to interface directly with their visitors, but at the moment, the only one who could understand the language was Lisa.
Their prisoner stopped and stared at the comm unit. If this had been one of the warriors, David would’ve expected him to try to smash it with his fist, but this one simply stood there and growled. “What do you want?”
“Well, that’s a surprise,” Tina said. “Thus far, we haven’t found a single one that would admit to even understanding what we said, though I was sure they spoke the same language as the Tardans. It looks like you picked the right one to isolate.”
He pressed the button to activate his microphone. “I want to understand you better. With your ship destroyed, you’re not going anywhere, and if you hope to ever have anything better than those cells you’ve been in, you’ll cooperate.”
The being barked softly. “We are Novarites. We do not cooperate with lesser beings. We rule them.”
“If that’s the case, why is it that you’re the only one that never seems to exhibit violent tendencies? If given the opportunity to attack our people, you find ways to avoid it. Would you care for me to guess why?”
The being cocked his head and considered the comm for a moment. “If you choose to do so, I will listen.”
“I believe your society has different castes. You’re not a warrior, and I assume you’re not a leader. The warriors tend to ignore you but don’t abuse you. That tells me you’re not much lower in standing than them, but it does intrigue me. What makes you different?”
“I am crew, and they are not. I grow tired of speaking to someone that I do not know. What is your name, captor?”
“My name is David Chen. What is your name?”
“I am Aralan, of the Blue Mountains clan. I serve as crew aboard Fist of the Wind.”
“Why are you talking with us?” David asked. “None of your people seem interested in conversing, so what makes you different?”
The being turned his back on the comm unit and walked across the chamber before turning and walking back. “I see no purpose in fighting the inevitable. You have captured me, and now I am yours to do with as you please. It matters little that my people will crush yours in the end because my feet are no longer my own to command. Do what you will.”
“Would you believe me if I said that we had no intention of fighting you until you charged in and started the battle? You showed hostile intent first, and we defended ourselves.”
“That is between our leaders and you. My position does not give me the luxury of knowing why something has occurred. All I can say with any certainty is that I am your prisoner. If you want someone to fight, deal with our warriors. They will fight you until death. I will wait for an opportunity to improve my lot, but I see no reason to fight.”
Tina reached over and muted the microphone. “The other crewperson we rescued fights us, so there’s something else going on, and we need to get to the bottom of it if we ever hope to understand why he’s behaving the way he is.”
David unmuted the microphone. “You’re not the only prisoner we’ve retrieved from your ship. Perhaps you know the other one.”
“I have seen only the warriors you put me with. Even if I knew them, I would tell you nothing.”
“And yet, here he is talking to us,” Tina said after she pressed the mute button. “He’s definitely an odd bird.”
Once he’d unmuted the microphone, David continued. “We don’t know who she is, but according to the records, both of you were found in the same compartment, so you know her.”
Aralan stopped his pacing and turned toward the comm unit. “She is mine. You will return her to me now.”
David smiled. They’d found a lever. “I’m willing to discuss that, but I want to know why she fights, and you don’t. Who is she to you?”
Aralan smashed his fist into the wall next to the comm unit. “I may be your prisoner, but you do not dictate what I must do. You will bring her to me if you want my grudging cooperation.”
And with that, he turned his back on the comm unit and walked to the other side of the compartment, making it obvious that the conversation was at an end.
David killed the connection and turned to his wife. “Should we reunite them?”
Tina shrugged. “I’m willing to give it a try, but is it worth the risk? There’s no telling what he’ll do if we bring her to him. Are they lovers? Relatives? Mortal enemies? Maybe his intent is to kill her to keep her from telling us something important. Maybe he hopes that she’ll kill him. We know so little that we can’t even guess how they will behave.”
“True,” he admitted. “And that’s one of the reasons we’re going to have to be careful. If the two of them are in danger from the warriors, maybe isolating them together will make them more cooperative. They can’t resist us trying to communicate with them more than the rest of the aliens have already done, so I think it’s worth a try.”
He passed instructions to the Marine, and she once again summoned her team and performed another extraction for the second alien. Unlike the male, the female attacked the Marines just as viciously as the warriors around her. That didn’t save her from being netted and dragged unceremoniously to her new accommodations.
The male watched them bring the female in and attacked the Marines for the first time, trying to get at her. Thankfully, they were ready for such an occurrence and netted him quickly. Getting the two into a position where they could be released simultaneously. As they were focused on one another, the Marines were able to successfully withdraw from the compartment without issue.
The prisoners circled one another, and for a moment, David thought they would attack. Then they grasped one another and pulled themselves together.
“I’m still not sure if they’re friends or lovers, but that’s not how I’d expect enemies to behave,” Tina said. “The question now is will her presence keep him from speaking or make him more cooperative?”
“There’s only one way to find out,” he said as he pressed the transmit button on his console. “We’ve done as you asked, Aralan. Are you prepared to talk?”
“I am Larista, of the Blue Mountains clan,” the female said, her muzzle high in the air. “How dare you speak to my mate like that? I will rend the flesh from your bones.”
“He speaks as he does because I made a bargain,” the male said. “I agreed to speak with them if you were brought to me.”
David grinned. This was an unexpected stroke of luck. Any initial cooperation would probably be limited, but it was possible they’d eventually get information they might never have otherwise received.
“You should not cooperate with the enemies of our people,” Larista scolded him. “We should tell them nothing.” She then dragged him across the compartment, and they began speaking in hushed tones.
The microphones were sensitive enough to pick up what was being said, but David was disinclined to listen. He muted the microphone and turned to face his wife. “Do you think this will actually work?”
“I do,” she said as she leaned back in her seat. “Getting them to cooperate with us will be a long-term project, though. We’d be better off counting on Lisa to dig up the information we need from their computers. Any idea how that’s going?”
“None. As of the last report, the encryption still has her stymied. She’s a smart woman and has a lot of insight into their computer systems because of Regex. She’ll figure a way around the problem at some point, but we can’t count on that happening anytime soon.”
He rose. “Why don’t we let our lovers argue while we get some lunch? I’m starving.”
3
Lisa Gane sat at the alien computer console and typed on the keyboard. Though she’d gotten used to dealing with the discontinuity of typing in a language that wasn’t her own, the strange keys were still just as odd as they had been the first time. Even more odd was the fact that her ability to read it had improved to the point where she thought she was developing the capacity to comprehend what she was seeing on her own, rather than simply tapping into Regex’s memory.
And with the symbiote in her body becoming less and less terrifying as the days progressed, it almost felt bizarrely normal. She supposed she’d accepted the situation as one she couldn’t change. That didn’t make her happy, but neither of them had had a choice, so they’d found ways to adapt.
The two of them had worked hard at setting boundaries, and even though they hadn’t been entirely successful at avoiding problems, they’d made progress. Enough that she felt sure she’d be able to adjust to his presence for the rest of her life. Eventually.
Then she frowned. Exactly how long did Tardans live? Was he old? Did she have to worry about him dying while she was still alive? The two of them were linked, and the death of either would be catastrophic for the other.
Lisa thought about that while she worked. She could do so in peace because she’d finally learned to shield her thoughts from Regex’s attention when she chose. She could still make whatever she wanted to say to him clear, but if she wanted a private musing, she could have it.
